Restaurant offers motor sports theme

January 12, 2006|BARBARA DEMPSEY Tribune Correspondent

EDWARDSBURG When local developer Troy Treat was setting up his Legends custom-built motorcycle business a couple of years ago, he envisioned a place where motor sports hobbyists from all over the country could gather and share their stories around a table. That brainstorm -- to feed the needs of his customers in a location easily accessible to Chicago, Detroit, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis -- is what led to Legends Restaurant, which opened last month on Michigan 62 at the Gateway Shopping Center. Treat, who's "been a gear head since I was a kid," calls motor sports his hobby. "Everyone needs to have some fun," he says. A motor sports vision it is, an eatery with airbrushed designs on the motorcycle fuel tanks hanging on the walls, and aluminum diamond plate rimming the windows and ceiling mirrors. Aluminum diamond plate sheeting has been molded into swinging doors that lead into the kitchen. Even the bar tables clustered along the bar area feature spun aluminum tops. Upon entering the place, customers would be hard pressed to miss the bike of the month, a 2006 custom designed ol school Bobber Bike that Treat had made in his nearby shop. It features an old style flathead motor with springer front end. The piece is perched atop a ledge at the near end of a partial wall of glass etched in white flames that separates the dining area from the bar area. It weighs 420 pounds and is 7 1/2 feet long. Treat says he added 2,500 square feet onto the building that is now Legends. It had housed several restaurants in Edwardsburg over the years, more recently the Rustic Inn and a Chinese establishment. There are 18 new high-definition, 32-inch screen televisions along the restaurant's interior walls, and another 6-foot by 12-foot television screen in the "garage area" that serves as a backdrop to the dance floor. The area itself can be cordoned off for private parties or meetings. Its television screen is set up for Microsoft PowerPoint to accommodate the requests from businesses. The bar area, named Gasoline Alley, features a solid mahogany bar top, 28 feet long and 3 1/2 feet wide, that was custom made locally. It's the only place in the restaurant where tobacco use is allowed, and the glass partition provides a natural odor barrier from the dining area. The entire restaurant is done in black and white, silver, and brown tones, colors associated with the motor sports industry, and designed so that customers' "eyes aren't beat up with over stimulation," Treat says. The ceiling is done in black-and-white checkered tiles, and a little checkered flag adorns each table. Newly seated customers are instructed to put their little flag, permanently anchored in a salt shaker, on the "pit stop" coaster at the table's edge anytime they need service. While Treat had been hyping the restaurant and motorcycle shop at rallies and motor sports shows across the country last year, he said he was surprised at the diverse clientele that has emerged. A call for New Year's Eve reservations quickly produced a 147-seat capacity crowd, which was entertained by Estimated Time of Arrival, a Michiana area band. At any one time, the hungry and curious range from people in their early 20s to families with small children, and senior citizens, drawn by not only the menu and mid-range pricing but also the entertainment. The varied menu, with a motor sports theme, includes such unusual items as cream-based cheeseburger soup and macaroni and cheese soup, for those ignoring calories, and broth-based concoctions such as beefsteak soup, sweet bell pepper, and mushroom barley delights, all said to be low in sodium. There's even pizza soup for those who want the taste and not the starch. Two soups plus chili are offered each day and made from scratch by the head chef, Dennis (Skipper) Deal, who's been cooking professionally for 11 years. He honed his skills while cooking for his fellow firemen at the Mishawaka Fire Department, and then worked professionally as the chef at Stude's Bar and Roc's, both in Mishawaka, and the Sports Page in Granger, before joining Legends. The restaurant offers live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays. Thursday is karaoke night with a different disc jockey each week. Kids' night will be on Mondays, with face painting and clowns walking among the tables to fashion twist tie balloons.